Pub Date : 2022-05-06DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221090139
Jelena Starčević
Strategizing Against Sweatshops: The Global Economy, Student Activism, and Worker Empowerment is an analytic examination of the strategic evolution of the U.S. antisweatshop movement, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). A sociologist at Loyola University Chicago, author Matthew Williams’s primary goal is to uncover the processes of strategic decision-making and understand why movement activists make the choices they do. His book, the product of Williams’s doctoral dissertation, uses the ethnographic method and 30 in-depth interviews to reconstruct the history of the USAS. Williams’s introduction reviews existing scholarship and sets out his approach. The author builds on previous scholarship on social movements to explore how antisweatshop movements develop their strategic models. To uncover how movements operate within particular social environments and identify possible points of leverage, Williams expands the understanding of political opportunity structures (POS) from a traditional focus on the state to encompass social structures, cultural factors, and nonmovement social actors. Part I contextualizes the emergence of student anti-sweatshop activism in the mid-1990s. Williams identifies two key structures: one, the international apparel industry, shaped by the neoliberal restructuring of the economy and the rise of outsourcing, and, two, U.S. college campuses, where college administrations sought to maintain legitimacy amidst growing corporatization. Understanding these structures proved essential in shaping the concrete goals, strategies, and possibilities of student activism. Part II provides a detailed examination of the USAS’s origins, organization, and ideology. Drawing from participant accounts, Williams identifies how the USAS developed from a dispersed, localized, and often nonstrategic student anti-sweatshop movement to become the leader of a global movement coalition. Two strategic collaborations were crucial in this development. First, collaboration with UNITE, the U.S.-based national apparel union, helped activists develop coherent campaign strategies and transmitted worker empowerment as central to the success of any antiBook Reviews
{"title":"Book Review: Strategizing Against Sweatshops: The Global Economy, Student Activism, and Worker Empowerment by Williams, Matthew","authors":"Jelena Starčević","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221090139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221090139","url":null,"abstract":"Strategizing Against Sweatshops: The Global Economy, Student Activism, and Worker Empowerment is an analytic examination of the strategic evolution of the U.S. antisweatshop movement, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). A sociologist at Loyola University Chicago, author Matthew Williams’s primary goal is to uncover the processes of strategic decision-making and understand why movement activists make the choices they do. His book, the product of Williams’s doctoral dissertation, uses the ethnographic method and 30 in-depth interviews to reconstruct the history of the USAS. Williams’s introduction reviews existing scholarship and sets out his approach. The author builds on previous scholarship on social movements to explore how antisweatshop movements develop their strategic models. To uncover how movements operate within particular social environments and identify possible points of leverage, Williams expands the understanding of political opportunity structures (POS) from a traditional focus on the state to encompass social structures, cultural factors, and nonmovement social actors. Part I contextualizes the emergence of student anti-sweatshop activism in the mid-1990s. Williams identifies two key structures: one, the international apparel industry, shaped by the neoliberal restructuring of the economy and the rise of outsourcing, and, two, U.S. college campuses, where college administrations sought to maintain legitimacy amidst growing corporatization. Understanding these structures proved essential in shaping the concrete goals, strategies, and possibilities of student activism. Part II provides a detailed examination of the USAS’s origins, organization, and ideology. Drawing from participant accounts, Williams identifies how the USAS developed from a dispersed, localized, and often nonstrategic student anti-sweatshop movement to become the leader of a global movement coalition. Two strategic collaborations were crucial in this development. First, collaboration with UNITE, the U.S.-based national apparel union, helped activists develop coherent campaign strategies and transmitted worker empowerment as central to the success of any antiBook Reviews","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"204 - 205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43354885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-02DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221096409
R. Gumbrell-Mccormick
This paper, written partly in response to Steven Ashby’s article for this journal, ‘Union Democracy in Today’s Labor Movement’, explores the meaning and practice of internal trade union democracy in Europe. Agreeing with many of Ashby’s arguments around the importance and desirability of union democracy, I consider the definition of union democracy, and the question of whether and why it matters. I then present some of the main dimensions of the national models of the main western European unions and how they affect the practice of union democracy. These dimensions include the formal decision-making structures, such as those regarding the setting of policy, the election of representatives, and the payment of dues. Other important aspects include the reliance on paid officials as opposed to lay members and elected officers, and the degree of centralisation or de-centralisation. Beyond this, there is the question of the relationship between unions within countries, whether there is a single national confederation or multiple confederations, and the degree to which they are cooperative or competitive. This part of the article highlights the many differences between trade unions in the United States and in the major European countries. Despite these differences, however, unions in many countries suffer from similar impediments to internal democracy and are seeking ways to build greater democracy. I conclude that unions on both sides of the Atlantic have much to learn from each other, and that internal union democracy can increase the dynamism and effectiveness of unions in their struggles with external forces.
{"title":"Union Democracy: A European Perspective","authors":"R. Gumbrell-Mccormick","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221096409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221096409","url":null,"abstract":"This paper, written partly in response to Steven Ashby’s article for this journal, ‘Union Democracy in Today’s Labor Movement’, explores the meaning and practice of internal trade union democracy in Europe. Agreeing with many of Ashby’s arguments around the importance and desirability of union democracy, I consider the definition of union democracy, and the question of whether and why it matters. I then present some of the main dimensions of the national models of the main western European unions and how they affect the practice of union democracy. These dimensions include the formal decision-making structures, such as those regarding the setting of policy, the election of representatives, and the payment of dues. Other important aspects include the reliance on paid officials as opposed to lay members and elected officers, and the degree of centralisation or de-centralisation. Beyond this, there is the question of the relationship between unions within countries, whether there is a single national confederation or multiple confederations, and the degree to which they are cooperative or competitive. This part of the article highlights the many differences between trade unions in the United States and in the major European countries. Despite these differences, however, unions in many countries suffer from similar impediments to internal democracy and are seeking ways to build greater democracy. I conclude that unions on both sides of the Atlantic have much to learn from each other, and that internal union democracy can increase the dynamism and effectiveness of unions in their struggles with external forces.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"170 - 179"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43980177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-11DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221090141
I. Yildirim
{"title":"Book Review: Poor Man’s Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850–1950 by Roll, Jarod","authors":"I. Yildirim","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221090141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221090141","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"207 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44448518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-11DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221090140
Adam Zvric
sessed a comprehensive knowledge of sweatshops, allowed student organizers to acquire expertise. Second, the USAS’s success was rooted in identifying links between the apparel industry and colleges and universities, which became their central point of leverage. Williams attributes the USAS’s early success to initially building their own legitimacy, followed by disruptive actions (sit-ins) aimed at provoking negotiations with college administrations. This wave of protests resulted in the adoption of stringent codes of conduct, guiding college administrations’ choice of suppliers allowed to sell licensed apparel. In Part III, Williams explores how setbacks and new challenges faced by the USAS following their first victory resulted in strategic innovation. The first cycle of innovation happened as the USAS faced push-backs from corporate social responsibility programs and the creation of the Fair Labour Association, a corporate-led monitoring mechanism to ensure “sweat-free” apparel production. Realizing the need to offer an alternative, the USAS helped create a new independent monitoring organization, the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC). However, the WRC’s efforts were limited, as lead companies shifted business away from factories that complied with codes of conduct. Understanding these limitations as structural, the USAS began the second cycle of innovation resulting in the creation of the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), requiring lead companies to make long-term commitments to their suppliers in exchange for certification. Overall, the book contributes an elaborated study on movement cycles, alternating between proven strategic models and innovative approaches. These cycles of strategic innovation also influence the ideological changes that in turn inform future actions. The ability to assess POS, find points of leverage, and strategize in innovative ways, alternating between disruption and discursive change, may prove an effective path to movement success, not only when focusing on corporations and educational institutions, like in the case of the USAS, but also when challenging nation-states. Strategizing Against Sweatshops is a useful resource for any researcher or student interested in the dynamics of social movements as they face powerful adversaries.
{"title":"Book Review: Comrade: An Essay on Political Belonging by Dean, Jodi","authors":"Adam Zvric","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221090140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221090140","url":null,"abstract":"sessed a comprehensive knowledge of sweatshops, allowed student organizers to acquire expertise. Second, the USAS’s success was rooted in identifying links between the apparel industry and colleges and universities, which became their central point of leverage. Williams attributes the USAS’s early success to initially building their own legitimacy, followed by disruptive actions (sit-ins) aimed at provoking negotiations with college administrations. This wave of protests resulted in the adoption of stringent codes of conduct, guiding college administrations’ choice of suppliers allowed to sell licensed apparel. In Part III, Williams explores how setbacks and new challenges faced by the USAS following their first victory resulted in strategic innovation. The first cycle of innovation happened as the USAS faced push-backs from corporate social responsibility programs and the creation of the Fair Labour Association, a corporate-led monitoring mechanism to ensure “sweat-free” apparel production. Realizing the need to offer an alternative, the USAS helped create a new independent monitoring organization, the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC). However, the WRC’s efforts were limited, as lead companies shifted business away from factories that complied with codes of conduct. Understanding these limitations as structural, the USAS began the second cycle of innovation resulting in the creation of the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), requiring lead companies to make long-term commitments to their suppliers in exchange for certification. Overall, the book contributes an elaborated study on movement cycles, alternating between proven strategic models and innovative approaches. These cycles of strategic innovation also influence the ideological changes that in turn inform future actions. The ability to assess POS, find points of leverage, and strategize in innovative ways, alternating between disruption and discursive change, may prove an effective path to movement success, not only when focusing on corporations and educational institutions, like in the case of the USAS, but also when challenging nation-states. Strategizing Against Sweatshops is a useful resource for any researcher or student interested in the dynamics of social movements as they face powerful adversaries.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"205 - 207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65018284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-28DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221080379
Rosemary Feurer
This essay historicizes some of Stephen Ashby's findings, and elaborates on a thesis that union democracy is weak in the United States because capitalist opposition was so strong in a formative stage of union development. It introduces a brief survey of the first major U.S. industrial union, the United Mine Workers of America, to show that leadership cordoned off more radical alternatives in service to capital and to middle class and political operatives influence. It introduces a brief survey of the first major industrial union, the United Mine Workers to show that leadership cordoned off more radical alternatives in service to capital and to middle class and political operatives influence. Union leadership responded to that challenge with highly centralized control that blocked more democratic and struggle-based unionism. This had long term consequences through the next insurgency the Congress of Industrial Organizations. These historic influences are operative in the present, when workers seek power to build a counter to the growing inequality of wealth.
{"title":"Labor Unions and Democracy: A Long View","authors":"Rosemary Feurer","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221080379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221080379","url":null,"abstract":"This essay historicizes some of Stephen Ashby's findings, and elaborates on a thesis that union democracy is weak in the United States because capitalist opposition was so strong in a formative stage of union development. It introduces a brief survey of the first major U.S. industrial union, the United Mine Workers of America, to show that leadership cordoned off more radical alternatives in service to capital and to middle class and political operatives influence. It introduces a brief survey of the first major industrial union, the United Mine Workers to show that leadership cordoned off more radical alternatives in service to capital and to middle class and political operatives influence. Union leadership responded to that challenge with highly centralized control that blocked more democratic and struggle-based unionism. This had long term consequences through the next insurgency the Congress of Industrial Organizations. These historic influences are operative in the present, when workers seek power to build a counter to the growing inequality of wealth.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"149 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41878771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-24DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221080371
Victor G. Devinatz
To have healthy union democracy, it is essential for the Left to be active in unions. Leftist unions are more democratic than non-leftist unions on all measures of union democracy including the absence of union corruption, the quantity of union factions, the presence of grassroots militancy, and union member participation in social movement unionism and community unionism. Additionally, although union democracy is associated with union effectiveness, restrictions on union democracy and decisions implemented by the union bureaucracy might be advantageous to the union as an organization in certain situations. If the survival of the union as an organization is at stake, it will be necessary for the union bureaucracy to make decisions, independent of rank-and-file union members. Although potentially denoting an infringement on union democracy, such decisions might aid the union as an organization, especially with the existence of a progressive union bureaucracy.
{"title":"Union Democracy, Union Bureaucracy, and the Left","authors":"Victor G. Devinatz","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221080371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221080371","url":null,"abstract":"To have healthy union democracy, it is essential for the Left to be active in unions. Leftist unions are more democratic than non-leftist unions on all measures of union democracy including the absence of union corruption, the quantity of union factions, the presence of grassroots militancy, and union member participation in social movement unionism and community unionism. Additionally, although union democracy is associated with union effectiveness, restrictions on union democracy and decisions implemented by the union bureaucracy might be advantageous to the union as an organization in certain situations. If the survival of the union as an organization is at stake, it will be necessary for the union bureaucracy to make decisions, independent of rank-and-file union members. Although potentially denoting an infringement on union democracy, such decisions might aid the union as an organization, especially with the existence of a progressive union bureaucracy.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"137 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46701342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-16DOI: 10.1177/0160449X221074153
Wei-hsieh Li, J. Lamare, R. Bruno
The positive effects of union canvassing on individual-level union member voter turnout within union-friendly environments have been well documented. Yet, whether unions increase turnout among their membership under constrained circumstances has remained unexamined. Furthermore, there is little consensus on whether union canvassing effects are generalizable to populations with heterogeneous political attributes and individual characteristics. This paper identifies the mechanisms that might explain how union canvassing can be effective under conditions characterized by anti-union legislative actions, adversarial judicial decisions, and right-wing populist rhetoric. We use canvassing and turnout data taken from the 2016 Democratic state and Cook County primary election in Illinois, and our results show that, despite constrained political circumstances relative to those found in previous studies, union canvassing achieved positive union membership turnout effects. This study also tests the moderating effects of individual political attributes (ideology and vote propensity) and voter characteristics (income and ethnicity). The most salient finding is that the effects are more potent for ideologically conservative registered Democrat voters, highlighting the imperative of recognizing the ideological heterogeneity among union members and suggesting specific resource allocation strategies under politically constrained conditions.
{"title":"Does Union Canvassing Affect Voter Turnout Under Conditions of Political Constraint? Empirical Evidence from Illinois","authors":"Wei-hsieh Li, J. Lamare, R. Bruno","doi":"10.1177/0160449X221074153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X221074153","url":null,"abstract":"The positive effects of union canvassing on individual-level union member voter turnout within union-friendly environments have been well documented. Yet, whether unions increase turnout among their membership under constrained circumstances has remained unexamined. Furthermore, there is little consensus on whether union canvassing effects are generalizable to populations with heterogeneous political attributes and individual characteristics. This paper identifies the mechanisms that might explain how union canvassing can be effective under conditions characterized by anti-union legislative actions, adversarial judicial decisions, and right-wing populist rhetoric. We use canvassing and turnout data taken from the 2016 Democratic state and Cook County primary election in Illinois, and our results show that, despite constrained political circumstances relative to those found in previous studies, union canvassing achieved positive union membership turnout effects. This study also tests the moderating effects of individual political attributes (ideology and vote propensity) and voter characteristics (income and ethnicity). The most salient finding is that the effects are more potent for ideologically conservative registered Democrat voters, highlighting the imperative of recognizing the ideological heterogeneity among union members and suggesting specific resource allocation strategies under politically constrained conditions.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"213 - 240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44423848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-11DOI: 10.1177/0160449X211072565
Jacob Lesniewski, S. Gleeson
Low-wage workers continue to face high levels of exploitation in the workplace. The regulatory frameworks that exist to protect workers and provide avenues for redress for violations of workers’ rights rely on individual or collective claims-making by workers. Worker centers have developed creative mobilization strategies to support worker claims and build worker power in the low-wage labor market. This paper leverages qualitative case study data to better understand the process of worker claims-making and the psychosocial toll it can take on workers. Based on these case studies, this paper argues that worker centers and other alt-labor groups need to take into account the costs and challenges for workers endemic to the claims-making process under current regulatory regimes.
{"title":"Mobilizing Worker Rights: The Challenges of Claims-Driven Processes for Re-Regulating the Labor Market","authors":"Jacob Lesniewski, S. Gleeson","doi":"10.1177/0160449X211072565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X211072565","url":null,"abstract":"Low-wage workers continue to face high levels of exploitation in the workplace. The regulatory frameworks that exist to protect workers and provide avenues for redress for violations of workers’ rights rely on individual or collective claims-making by workers. Worker centers have developed creative mobilization strategies to support worker claims and build worker power in the low-wage labor market. This paper leverages qualitative case study data to better understand the process of worker claims-making and the psychosocial toll it can take on workers. Based on these case studies, this paper argues that worker centers and other alt-labor groups need to take into account the costs and challenges for workers endemic to the claims-making process under current regulatory regimes.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"241 - 261"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47965119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-21DOI: 10.1177/0160449x211067832
Bruce Nissen
well-organized and well-financed political forces around the world that want to take that away.” (269) Wendell Young’s emergence as the leading advocate and practitioner of social unionism, including workers’ ownership of the enterprises in which they work, resulted in a lasting example of a consciously social democratic perspective of history and of possibilities for the present and the future that students, historians, labor activists and their allies will do well to consider seriously.
{"title":"Book Review: Power Despite Precarity: Strategies for the Contingent Faculty Movement in Higher Education by Berry, Joe, and Helena Worthen","authors":"Bruce Nissen","doi":"10.1177/0160449x211067832","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449x211067832","url":null,"abstract":"well-organized and well-financed political forces around the world that want to take that away.” (269) Wendell Young’s emergence as the leading advocate and practitioner of social unionism, including workers’ ownership of the enterprises in which they work, resulted in a lasting example of a consciously social democratic perspective of history and of possibilities for the present and the future that students, historians, labor activists and their allies will do well to consider seriously.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"100 - 101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46580224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-24DOI: 10.1177/0160449X211049477
Frank P. Manzo
“Federal-aid swap” programs allow states and local governments to bypass federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wages and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals by exchanging federal funds that have been allocated to highway projects with state funds. The Iowa Department of Transportation approved a federal-aid swap program in February 2018. Using data on more than 1,200 highway construction projects in Iowa from 2016 to 2020, I find that the cost of projects in the federal-aid swap program are not statistically different from those that were not swapped, after accounting for project size and complexity, project type, and project location. Regression results indicate that Davis-Bacon prevailing wages and DBE goals have no effect on total construction costs. However, the federal-aid swap program is statistically associated with a decrease in the likelihoods that a project is covered by the Davis-Bacon Act by 10 percentage points and DBE goals by 4 percentage points. Because the payment of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages is statistically associated with an 8 percentage-point decrease in the chances that a highway project is awarded to an out-of-state contractor, the federal-aid swap program may have increased the market share of out-of-state contractors at the expense of Iowa-based contractors.
{"title":"The Effect of “Federal -Aid Swap” Programs and Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wages on Highway Construction Costs and Contractor Composition: Evidence From Iowa","authors":"Frank P. Manzo","doi":"10.1177/0160449X211049477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X211049477","url":null,"abstract":"“Federal-aid swap” programs allow states and local governments to bypass federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wages and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals by exchanging federal funds that have been allocated to highway projects with state funds. The Iowa Department of Transportation approved a federal-aid swap program in February 2018. Using data on more than 1,200 highway construction projects in Iowa from 2016 to 2020, I find that the cost of projects in the federal-aid swap program are not statistically different from those that were not swapped, after accounting for project size and complexity, project type, and project location. Regression results indicate that Davis-Bacon prevailing wages and DBE goals have no effect on total construction costs. However, the federal-aid swap program is statistically associated with a decrease in the likelihoods that a project is covered by the Davis-Bacon Act by 10 percentage points and DBE goals by 4 percentage points. Because the payment of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages is statistically associated with an 8 percentage-point decrease in the chances that a highway project is awarded to an out-of-state contractor, the federal-aid swap program may have increased the market share of out-of-state contractors at the expense of Iowa-based contractors.","PeriodicalId":35267,"journal":{"name":"Labor Studies Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"75 - 98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46168955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：